YEREVAN, August 1. /ARKA/. Russian banks have seen a multiple increase in citizens’ demand for cross-border money transfers to neighboring countries, with Armenia being one of the most popular destinations, according to Finmarket.
This trend was reported to the Vedomosti daily by Pochta Bank, VTB, Dom.RF and MTS Bank. The Bank of Russia has stopped disclosing statistics on individual trans-border money transfers abroad and within Russia.
Trans-border card-to-card money transfers through the Pochta Bank app more than doubled in May – June, according to a representative of the bank, who added that in July their number continued to increase.
Out of all foreign money transfers, 85-90% of transactions are money transfers to foreign cards, with over 30,000 transactions per month. On average clients transfer about 11,000 rubles. The most popular countries are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Greece and Bulgaria: money transfers to these countries have more than tripled from last year.
Clients of Pochta l Bank make transactions in rubles, then the recipient bank converts the funds into local currency at its own exchange rate. Money transfers are made through the bank’s partners, which provide technological support.
In June, VTB launched cross-border money transfers to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vietnam using bank details in local currencies to accounts of individuals and legal entities.
Customers have made 2,000 money transfers worth 500 million rubles since the service was launched, said a representative of the state bank. The money transfers in local currencies continued to grow in July as well. The average money transfer amount is 250,000 rubles.
Earlier, in March, in response to the western sanctions, the Russian authorities introduced capital control measures to limit the maximum amount of money transfers abroad. Initially, citizens were allowed to transfer no more than $5,000 or the equivalent in another currency to another Russian citizen each month. Then the Central Bank started loosening the controls: at first the threshold was raised to $10,000, then to $50,000 and $150,000.
There are several main reasons for the growth of cross-border money transfers, said a representative of the Pochta Bank. The first reason is the departure of the international money transfer system Western Union from the Russian market and the flight of clients to other channels and transfer methods.
Another reason is the relocation of thousands of Russians to other countries after the start of the so-called special operation in Ukraine. –0–
